P700,000 Miss Botswana war
Lekopanye Mooketsi | Monday April 7, 2014 11:51
Sweet Baint & Pleasant Worthy, the organising company, had sourced P700,000 from the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture for the running of the event including securing the prizes.
Sweet Baint & Pleasant Worthy claimed that all the money was channelled through the BCW, which never released a thebe even up to this day. This has led to the council terminating the three-year contract with the company.
However, the unhappy Sweet Baint & Pleasant Worthy countered that it was his company that terminated their contract with BCW, not the other way round.
He said that he has started taking legal action against BCW in an attempt to salvage whatever they can, after the council pocketed all the money.
One of the directors of Sweet Baint & Pleasant Worthy, David Abram said according to the contract that they had entered into, they were supposed to run the pageant jointly with BCW as well as share the costs.
He is discontented that BCW left them with a trail of debt, but did not want to settle the bills even though they received the money from sponsors. According to Abram his company lost P250,000 when they were organising the pageant.
Abram said things came to a head after BCW received funding from the Department of Arts and Culture. He said the department initially released P450,000 and later the balance, P300,000.
He told The Monitor that although the funds were directed to BCW it was his company, which submitted the project proposal seeking the funds from the department for the pageant.
He said the money was supposed to cover the running expenses for Miss Botswana 2013, but they were surprised when BCW held on to the funds.
Abram who is well known in showbiz circles as ‘DVD’ said part of the money was supposed to pay for the prizes including the car and the sound equipment that was used during the pageant.
He added that the South African company, which provided the sound engineering is still owed more than P100,000.
Abram said when they needed to settle the expenses for the pageant the BCW refused with the money claiming it was for the Miss World pageant.
He said the BCW demanded that his company covers all the expenses with the money from the entrance fees.
Abram however said they managed to sell only 175 tickets for the grand finale.
The Sweet Baint frontman said that though they managed to cover some of the expenses with funds from the ticket sales, including making part payment for the car, BCW would still not share costs.
Abram claimed that their contract did not bind them to the car prize. “But we can’t deny that we were part of the project,” he said.
Abram said they have held several meetings with BCW to resolve the impasse but the two parties could not find a breakthrough.
When reached for comment, BCW demanded a questionnaire be sent by e-mail but had not responded to it by the time of going to press.
This is not the first time that a dispute between BCW and an events management company has erupted.
In 2012, companies Leapfrog and 63 Entertainment staged the Miss Botswana pageant. They took BCW to court for unfair termination of their contract. However, the High Court ruled in favour of BCW.
Abram said lat year’s first and second princesses were given vouchers of P30,000 and P10,000 respectively since sponsors honoured their pledges.
However, without BCW honouring it end of the agreemnet, it effectively means that the 2013 Miss Botswana queen, Keofhitlhetse, will have no prize car and other accompanying gifts.
*This article has been updated.